One hundred thirty-nine students will soon be training and learning at a state-of-the-art €13.6 million building dubbed “The Centre for Research Training” at the University of Limerick.
News of the investment came on Tuesday, at an event at the University, with Heather Humphreys TD Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation, and Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD present.
The investment comes from Science Foundation Ireland, a statutory body of the Department of Business and Department of Enterprise and Innovation.
It is hoped that the CRT will be the foundation for a “world-class” understanding of Applied Mathematics, Statistics and Machine Learning going forward.
The project is aimed at those who wish to pursue a Ph.D. in the area.
Some of the skills that will be honed at the new facility include scientific concepts that are becoming more prevalent in contemporary society such as data analytics and smart manufacturing.
Weather forecasting, insurance, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals are also among the sectors that will be explored in greater detail than ever before.
The investment it is seen as an answer to the reputation that Ireland is behind in the data science industry compared to our European contemporaries.
In 2018, Andrew Parnell, a professor at the University of Maynooth, stated that “In Ireland, we cannot produce data scientists fast enough.”
The initiative is a collaboration between the University of Limerick, University College Dublin, Maynooth University, and Skillnet Ireland.
Speaking at Tuesday’s announcement, Professor James Gleeson said: “Graduates from the CRT will positively impact all aspects of Irish society and will become Ireland’s future leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and employers. Students will get a unique opportunity to work with some of the best researchers and innovative companies working in this area.”
UCD’s Associate Prof Claire Gormley added: “The SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science will provide a world-class environment, training students in applied mathematics, statistics, and machine learning, with application areas of national importance”.
Molly Cantwell 
Daragh De Klein